| What is a Crisis? |
| Who Can You Call? |
| GP |
| CPN |
| Sunderland City Council |
| NHS Direct |
| Samaritans |
| Mental Health Matters Helpline |
| The Crisis Resolution & Home Treatment (CRHT) |
By crisis we are referring to a sudden deterioration in a person’s mental state which requires immediate attention. This could be described as acute mental distress, characterised by delusional or suicidal thinking or out of control behaviour which could lead to self injury or the harming of others.
Who to contact will depend upon the history of the person in question and whether this is a first or recurrent experience. The key thing is to get help quickly to deal with the immediate situation as safely and calmly as possible.
Call your own GP and tell them how you or the person is feeling. They may be able to offer support or notify an agency who can.
If you have a Community Psychiatric Nurse you could contact them and tell them how you are feeling.
Adult Services on 0191 566 2000. This is the number of the Call Handling Team who will take basic contact details before referring to the Advice & Assessment Team or one of the Complex Teams for social care needs.
0845 4647 has psychiatric nurses on the switchboard who can offer advice.
08457 90 90 90 this is a free confidential helpline if you feel you need to talk.
0800 013 0626 Monday to Friday 5pm – 9am, 24 hours at weekends and Bank Holidays.
The service is available 24 hours, 7 days a week, throughout the year and can be contacted on 0191 502 5472.
CRHT provides intensive home treatment for people whose mental health crisis is so severe that they would otherwise have been admitted to an inpatient ward. Users of CRHT teams are typically suffering from severe mental illness such as psychosis, severe depression or bi-polar affective disorder, or are at risk of harm to themselves or others, or may be vulnerable. The team accept referrals from a wide range of sources including; GPs, mental health agencies, voluntary agencies, police, and from service users and carers. It may be advisable to seek medical assistance in the first instance if you have not used the crisis team before, to ensure there is no physical cause which may account for changes in behaviour or symptoms.
